International Social Justice Project 1991 and 1996 (ISJP 1991 and 1996)

Follow-up survey at an interval of five years with the same major topics:
1. The social and occupational situation of the respondent and his relatives,
2. The attitudes to social inequality,
3. The financial situation and attitudes to income questions and
4. Political attitudes and concepts of justice.
Topics:
1. Social and occupational situation:
housing conditions;
number of persons in the household;
sex, age and family relation of all persons living in the household;
number of persons employed in the household;
employment and employer of respondent;
occupation;
exact description of occupational activity;
type and size of company;
supervisor status and span of control;
duration of employment in this company;
unemployment in the last 10 years;
type and year of highest school degree;
occupational training;
marital status;
partnership;
type and year of school degree of partner;
occupational training of partner;
employment of partner;
type of company of partner;
occupational position of partner;
exact description of occupational activity of partner;
time of start of possible unemployment;
employment of father in youth of respondent or reason for non-employment and
occupational position of father as well as exact description of the occupation
(social origins);
earlier employer;
length of earlier employment and
type of company;
occupational position in this earlier employment and
exact description of this activity;
religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance;
solidarity with the religious community;
union membership of respondent and persons in the household;
solidarity with trade unions;
In Germany:
place of residence before 1989, place of birth, length of residence and
previous place of residence, each differentiated according to East and West.
2. Attitudes to social inequality:
self-assessment on a class scale as well as a top-bottom scale
(in Germany: also before 1989);
assessment of the proportion of poor and rich people in one's country
(in Germany: assessment of the proportion for East and West respectively);
expected development of the relationship and
perceived reasons for the presence of poor and rich in the country (scale);
estimated reasons for injustices personally experienced (scale;
in Eastern Germany: differentiated before the turning point 1989 and after the turning point 1989);
attitude to achievement-based income differences (scale);
preferred criteria for establishing salary payments (scale);
current actual criteria for payment in effect (scale);
attitude to the role of the state and to privatization.
3. Financial situation and attitudes to income questions:
current and future satisfaction with income, employment, the standard of living,
the political system of the country and with life in general (scale; in Germany:
satisfaction before 1989);
sources of income of household;
number of persons contributing to household income;
monthly household income;
comparison of the financial situation of the household with the time year ago,
before 1989 and in three years;
assessment, whether current monthly household income is suitable for personal needs;
assessment of monthly household income necessary;
personal monthly income from employment;
assessment whether the payment of one's own work is appropriate;
level of a fair personal income;
comparison of personal income with the country average,
with persons with the same training and
with persons with similar occupation (in Germany:
with training and occupation each comparison with personal part of the country, East or West);
estimate of monthly income of a board chairman of a large business and
an unskilled worker,
judgement on these incomes (scales) and
recommendation for an appropriate monthly income for a board chairman and
for an unskilled worker;
judgement on the extent of income differences between occupations in the country
(in Germany: separate questions for East and West).
4. Political attitudes and concepts of justice:
behavior at the polls in the last political election;
party preference (Sunday question);
party inclination;
interest in politics (scale);
participation in political protest actions and political participation;
functioning of democracy in the country and effectiveness of politics;
trust in the government;
assessment whether the activity of the government serves the public good;
self-assessment on a left-right continuum;
assessment of the opportunities actually available and
achievement orientation in the country;
attitude to questions of distribution fairness (scales);
attitude to unequal social and financial conditions (scale);
social justness in the public public health system,
in the area of private business and
in the naturalization of foreigners (moral dilemma situations);
assessment of the importance of various prerequisites for upward social mobility (career);
attitude to more welfare state or more personal responsibility.
In Eastern Germany:
attitude to socialism;
assessment of personal losses or gains through unification of Germany.
Interviewer rating:
presence of additional persons;
intervention in the interview by persons present;
willingness of respondent to cooperate;
reliability of information of respondent.
Also encoded was:
date of interview;
length of interview;
number of contact attempts;
sex of interviewer;
age of interviewer;
school education of interviewer;
interviewer number;
possession of a telephone.